Urban Infrastructure & Green Construction

Urban Infrastructure and Green Construction includes planning and decision-making, sustainable buildings, transportation, waste management and water systems.

Research Themes

Develop new devices to measure pathogens in water; study the microbial ecology in engineered systems such as wastewater treatment plants; develop methods to prevent the microbial contribution to acid rock drainage and new techniques to measure pathogens such as Cryptosporidium in natural water samples.

Design, simulation and process performance evaluation of bioreactor technologies for macro-and micro-pollutant removal in municipal wastewater and biosolids. Design anaerobic digestion processes with thermal, mechanical, and ultrasound pretreatments. Develop biological treatment methods for the treatment of industrial wastewaters such as those from wineries and the food processing industry.

Develop novel construction materials from various industrial wastes and natural products that can lead to sustainable construction materials. Determine the short and long-term durability of such products before introducing them to the market.

Design, analysis, operation, management, and rehabilitation of water distribution systems from hydraulic and water quality points of views. Use combined physicochemical and biological processes to remove drinking water contaminants such as nitrate and perchlorate from municipal water supplies.

Develop novel and pragmatic approaches for sustainability and environmental performance assessment. Conduct both micro and macro level life cycle assessments for engineering products and services.

Assess sustainable solid waste treatment technologies including conventional and advanced anaerobic digestion, composting, recycling, landfilling, waste-to-energy, sustainable waste management practices and policies, and innovative waste to product technologies.

Study the economic, social, environmental, and technological aspects of sustainable transportation including: public transit planning, design, and operations; transportation planning and demand analysis; simulation and modelling of sustainable transportation systems; sustainable transportation safety; and sustainable land use systems.

Develop technical bases for incorporating the triple-bottom-line sustainability principles, i.e. environmental protection, economic prosperity, and social well-being, to achieve sustainable urban development using interdisciplinary knowledge of the re-design, construction, operation, age-friendly communities, accessible infrastructure, and maintenance of the built environment and its main resource streams.

Faculty Researchers

Shahria Alam – Associate Professor
Smart materials and their structural applications such as seismic rehabilitation of deteriorated structures, performance-based design of reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete and masonry structures.


Kor Gokce Bicakci – Postdoctoral Research Fellow
A Marie Sklodowska-Curie Post-doctoral Research Fellow investigating the occurrence and transformation of target pharmaceutical and personal care products by applying an innovative and energy-efficient radio frequency sludge pretreatment followed by anaerobic digestion for moving towards non-toxic environment.


Joshua Brinkerhoff – Assistant Professor
Simulation of multiphase turbulent flows for compressed and liquefied gas systems and dispersion of atmospheric pollutants in urban and industrial environments.


Mahmudur Fatmi – Assistant Professor
Transportation & land use interaction, travel behaviour analysis, smart and shared mobility, activity-based modelling , road safety, econometric modelling, agent-based microsimulation, transportation emissions and energy modelling.


Kasun Hewage – Professor
Life cycle thinking in built environment including water-energy-carbon nexus, energy efficient buildings, construction waste management, and life cycle assessment and costing in engineering products and processe


Vicki Komisar – Assistant Professor
Develops biomechanic and motor control tools to address safety and independence in daily living.


Shuai Li – Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Developing guidelines for highway bridges to prevent unseating of spans during earthquakes by utilizing smart materials like shape memory alloys (SMAs).


Zheng Liu – Associate Professor
Data-driven decision making, predictive maintenance of civil infrastructure, aircraft, and complex machine.


Nicholas Miguel Peleato – Assistant Professor
Advanced characterization of organic matter for evaluation of drinking water treatment processes and assessment of source water quality. Development of low-cost pre-treatment methods to effectively mitigate membrane fouling.


Anupama Vijayakumari Nadaraja Pillai – Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Developing a microbial fuel cell system for harnessing electricity from agro-industrial waste water; biological treatment of arsenic contaminated mine water; and building microwave based sensors for environmental monitoring


Ahmad Rteil – Assistant Professor
Design, evaluation and repair of infrastructure systems including reinforced / prestressed concrete structures.


Rehan Sadiq – Professor
Asset management of civil infrastructure systems, water supply systems and reliability engineering.


Sumi Siddiqua – Associate Professor
Nuclear waste repositories, energy pipelines, chemical stabilization of road subgrade materials, soil nano-particles, soil-water chemistry and the reuse of industry by-products.


Dwayne Tannant – Professor
Geotechnical engineering and engineering geology applied to surface and underground excavations in rock, terrain analysis, geohazard identification and evaluation, rock support design, blasting, rock mass characterization, and geotechnical engineering of earth dams.


Solomon Tesfamariam – Professor
Timber-based hybrid building design, infrastructure management, seismic risk assessment of civil infrastructure systems, risk-based decision making, multi-hazard resiliency framework.


Mohammad Tiznobaik – Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Investigating advanced concrete technology, recycled construction materials and its application towards sustainable development.


Lisa Tobber – Assistant Professor
Developing resilient and smart cities through multi-hazard design procedures, development of innovative structural components, advanced numerical simulations, and experimental testing.


Xiaoxiao Zhao – Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Developing surface modification such as superhydrophobic materials. Specifically developing liquid-repellent paper to replace traditional plastic membranes.